Chapter 110 : Chapter 110
Chapter 110: Homecoming (3)
Seeing Ibi suddenly rush in and subdue Allen, the flustered young men reached for their tools lying nearby one by one, but I moved first before they could grab them.
To be precise, my mouth did.
『Stop.』
As my level went up, the number of targets I could simultaneously cast 「Word Command」 on, just like with 「Vicious Mockery」, had increased to three.
As a result, the three young men were startled and froze in place, standing up.
Although there were still two other guys left, it wasn't my voice that stopped them.
“Is this a f*cking show to you, you bastards!”
It was Ibi's roar.
“You wanna die in a garbage dump over some guy you barely know!? F*ck off!”
At that display of spirit, the young men flinched once more.
As Ibi had said, the young men and Allen didn't seem to be very close, just gathered around the same fire.
Perhaps that's why they, who had been hesitantly looking around, eventually started to run away.
The three guys who had been stopped against their will also hurriedly followed the two as soon as I released the 「Word Command」.
“Is there really no f*cking loyalty in this place?”
Ibi, who had let out a bitter laugh at the sight, looked down at Allen, on whom she was still holding a knife, and said.
“In a place like this, it's a f*cking sin not to backstab someone, right?”
“Ibi, that’s…”
“Still, you stupid bastard. There are people you can backstab and people you absolutely can't. Haven't we f*cking learned that a million times? What the hell did you learn on the streets?”
Then Ibi picked up one of the bundles lying next to Allen's head and shook it gently.
“You just learned how to get f*cking high, didn't you?”
“I-I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding my ass, you son of a bitch.”
Ibi growled and pushed the blade against his neck even further.
“…I never thought of a bastard like you as a friend, but at least I thought you were a person.”
At that, Allen, who had turned his head as if to avoid her gaze, squeezed his eyes shut.
“But this f*cker…! If you were a human being, if you had at least a conscience, you son of a bitch. You shouldn't have skimmed off the money that was meant for the place that fed you so you wouldn't die on the streets…!”
“Heeik…!”
Every time Ibi's hand, which was holding the dagger, trembled, Allen's frightened body trembled with it.
“I-I was wrong, Ibi…!”
Ibi, as if she wanted to slit his throat right away but was holding back, straightened her bent back and swept her disheveled hair.
After taking a breath, she looked down at Allen, who was still trembling beneath her, and clicked her tongue in pity.
“Is there any left?”
Allen nodded his head desperately.
“You, choose.”
Ibi asked Allen in a firm tone, as if delivering a sentence.
“Are you going to die here and spit it out? Or, are you going to consider yourself dead anyway and do as you’re told to save your pathetic life?”
“Wh-Whatever you say! I’ll do whatever you say…!”
“Then, lead me to that damn old geezer.”
“…!”
Allen, who had heard Ibi's immediate reply, closed his eyes, realizing his mistake, but it was already too late to run away.
“Yeah, that's right.”
As if to remind him of this fact, Ibi raised one corner of her lips in a grin.
“You’re f*cked, you bastard.”
***
No matter how high our level was for the 「Don Paulo's Mansion」, rushing in there recklessly was no different from suicide.
First of all, there were the guards protecting the mansion, but the cartel members scattered throughout the city would come rushing in endlessly as soon as they heard the news of the attack.
Leaving aside the fact that we had grown and our skills had improved, it would be foolish for just the six of us to take on a cartel that had the power to conquer Tiaria if it wanted to.
Well, with our current strength, we might be able to eliminate the guys in the mansion and Don Paulo.
If we were lucky, we might even be able to escape from the members who arrived late.
But, there was no reason to do so.
It wasn't like there was a reward, and why would we choose a path where the probability of dying was higher.
So, Ibi proposed a way to use Allen.
“We’ll make him offer me to that bastard.”
A false surrender.
Allen would pretend to betray Ibi (which he had already done once) and open the gate of the mansion, saying that he was returning Ibi and the jewels she had stolen to Don Paulo.
Don Paulo knew everything about the people who lived in this city, especially in his ‘territory’.
And this slum was a part of that territory.
So the only ‘key’ was Allen, Ibi said.
“That damn old geezer is incredibly suspicious. If he hears that I was caught after being backstabbed by some other guy, he’ll immediately be suspicious.”
In a way, it was a testament to his belief in Ibi's abilities.
That there was no way that Ibi, who was once one of his confidants and had never been caught despite him sending hitmen several times, would be caught so easily.
“But if it’s that bastard… well, he’ll think it’s plausible. Since I was actually backstabbed. F*cking bastard.”
As such, Don Paulo would also know that Ibi had trusted Allen to some extent.
Because he knew well that they were from the same orphanage, had lived on the streets together… and were close to being friends.
Anyway.
So it would be enough if Allen brought her himself.
“Then, what should we do?”
But for us to be tied up and brought in together, it would be too obvious.
It would be one thing if it were just Ibi who had been backstabbed, but for all of us to be taken down by that weak drug addict, it would be a different story.
“I’ve thought of that too.”
At Toric's question, Ibi showed a grin.
“This guy said it himself before, didn’t he? That he’s a ‘treasure’.”
As if she had thought of a brilliant prank she had never thought of before.
“…Are you serious?”
That brilliant prank… no, the plan was to stuff us into treasure chests.
Saying that he had brought back the treasure that Ibi had stolen, we would also enter the mansion together.
“Now, get in.”
For this, Ibi, who had taken us to a warehouse full of boxes, gestured for us to choose the right box and chuckled.
“Hey, treasure. Act like a treasure.”
The first test subject that Ibi chose was me.
“Am I your treasure now?”
“Shut up and get in.”
“Ah. Ouch. Wait a minute. Don’t push. I’ll get in myself. I’ll get in on my own.”
Fortunately, the box was a size that even I, the tallest among us, could somehow fit in if I curled up my body, leaving aside the minor problem of feeling that my human rights were being violated in real time.
“Pfft! Wow, it’s a perfect fit. I thought it was your house, man. Ahahaha!”
Ibi, who was looking down at me, clapped her hands and burst into laughter.
“…Get me out quickly.”
“I don’t want to. Just stay in there. It suits you.”
The fact that I could fit in meant that Miki and Rine, who were much smaller than me, could easily get in just by crouching down, without much discomfort.
In fact, the two of them looked quite comfortable in their boxes, so Ibi didn't tease them like she had before.
On the other hand, Lily seemed to be having a much harder time… perhaps even more so than me.
She did manage to get in somehow… but, what should I say…
“…….”
It was, in many ways, hard to watch.
Just looking down at her like this made me feel like I was committing a great sin.
“I-Is this okay…?”
And the sight of a cleric in a nun's uniform, who was slightly out of breath and looking up at us with a flushed face, and Lily at that, literally crumpled into a box was…… frankly, perverted.
I wasn't the only one who felt that way, as even Ibi, who had been busy laughing and teasing me when she saw me crumpled up, was now dazed with a face that said she didn't know what to say.
“Wh-Why are you suddenly covering my eyes, Sister?”
With one hand covering Miki's eyes next to her.
“Uh, get out quickly, you.”
In the end, it was Ibi on the outside who couldn't stand it anymore and pulled Lily out of the box.
However, if Lily's side was a psychological problem (for the viewers), there was also a side with a physical problem.
“……Get me out.”
Toric… it was impossible for him to get into the box due to his volume rather than his length.
So for him, we had to find a large keg.
Thus, the boxes that we would each get into were decided.
***
The next evening.
“U-Um, please tell Don Paulo.”
In front of Don Paulo's mansion, which no one wanted to even accidentally step into, a certain young man came and said.
“I have brought the… half-dark elf who betrayed him.”
Next to that young man stood a brown-skinned woman with a sack over her head and handcuffs on her hands.
“A dark elf?”
At that, one of the guards guarding the front gate, who seemed to be the captain, approached and asked with a sneer.
“You? Her? Not just some random tan girl you brought?”
Then he gently lifted the sack on the woman the young man had brought, and.
“…!”
As soon as he saw the fierce, glaring eyes of the ‘Evie’ he knew, he flinched.
At that, the two guards who had been watching from behind approached with a puzzled expression.
“…Evie.”
But in vain of such a threat, the handcuffed Evie showed no resistance.
Only after seeing Evie's docile appearance did the captain let out a hollow laugh in relief and then lowered the sack he had lifted.
“You, who are you?”
“M-My name is Allen. Don Paulo… probably, knows me.”
At Allen's words, the captain gestured with his chin to one of the two who had followed him, telling him to go quickly.
Seeing this, the guard quickly opened the gate and started to run towards the mansion.
“What's this?”
When the captain then pointed to the cart and the boxes on it behind him and asked, Allen answered with a slightly trembling voice.
“Th-The jewels, that this person stole.”
Then he took out a necklace with a jewel from inside his clothes.
“From the safe?”
“Yes? Ah, yes….”
“Check it.”
At this, the captain gestured to the remaining guard to check it himself.
Allen, who saw this, swallowed hard.
Meanwhile, the guard who had received the order approached with a slightly annoyed expression and opened the box at the very front.
And──
“──?”
His eyes met with Yubin's, who was lying crouched inside the box.
With his mask off and his bare face revealed.